Kellyanne Conway shoots down reports that she's only backing Trump to make money

Kellyanne Conway, President Donald Trump’s top counselor, rejected suggestions made by the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday that she agreed to manage Trump’s campaign for monetary reasons.

Host Mika Brzezinski recalled Conway’s behaviour after segments during the campaign in which Conway “would shill for Trump in extensive fashion.”

“Then she would get off the air, the camera would be turned off, the microphone would be turned off. And she’d say, ‘Blegh. I need to take a shower,'” Brzezinski said. “Because she disliked her candidate so much.”

Co-host Joe Scarborough said that while he couldn’t recall whether Conway said she was working for the campaign for money, he argued that Conway’s approach to Trump seemed to change after the release of a recording in which Trump boasted about grabbing women by their genitals.

“I thought it was very interesting that after the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape came out, that’s when she started to referring to Donald Trump as ‘my client,'” Scarborough said. “Separating, saying: ‘I don’t believe this guy — he’s just my client. It’s just a paycheck.'”

Conway tweeted out a statement Tuesday afternoon in which she called the MSNBC hosts “virulent critics of the President” and said her “beliefs, commitments, and loyalties are plain to see.”

She also said that while she was Trump’s campaign manager, she earned less money than consultants who’ve worked on failed campaigns.

“The notion that I am serving for ‘the money’ or a ‘paycheck’ is absurd,” Conway said in the statement. “As campaign manager, I made a fraction of what other consultants have made on unsuccessful presidential campaigns.”

While Conway called the suggestion that she managed Trump’s campaign for monetary gain “absurd,” she did not specifically deny making the other comments alleged by the hosts.

Both Brzezinski and Scarborough have been heavily critical of Conway in recent months, barring her from appearing on their show earlier this year after accusing her of spreading “fake news.” Last week, Brzezinski called Conway “politics porn,” and criticised CNN for having her on.